Day 5 - Hello Alberta and lots of Wildlife

Oh what a relaxing and restful night.  We actually wake up at 8 am. We have a quick breakfast in the room.  We don't even leave the hotel until 10 am.

First stop is Freshies in Fernie for some coffee and we also had a veggie scone.  Very good.  The town is lovely, and we feel like it fits us.  We both agree this is a place we could live but boy the winters!  And we are not skiers, so not sure if we could do it! 

We stop in at Beanpod Chocolatier.  We had read about this place but we noticed that they don't open until noon, but they are open.  A sign we are suppose to go in!  

We talk with owner and he shows us the special boozy chocolates he has - yup we are meant to be here.  One of the chocolates has Pisco in it.  Well that definitely means we are suppose to be here.  Peru is the whole reason we are on this path.  And boy did we ever enjoy our Pisco Sours in Peru.

We buy some chocolates to enjoy later.

Our route today is from Fernie to Lethbridge, Alberta.  

We stop in Sparwood, BC as they have the largest truck.  Well of course we need to stop and see and take a picture. Yes it is freaking large.

Bernie has to kick the tires.

Here we are entering Alberta!   Sorry had to do a selfie as no one else was around to take our picture.

It was recommended we stop at Frank's Slide and we are glad we did.  The slide is the worst slide disaster in Canadian history.  At 410 am on April 29, 1903 Turtle mountain came down.  At the time 600 people lived in Frank and 90 were killed.  

This is a beautiful memorial to those that passed.

The slide covered an area of 3 square kilometers on the valley bottom and the area buried to an average depth of 14 meters (46 feet), with some spots as deep as 45 meters (150 feet).  The clouds covered the top of turtle mountain but you can clearly see how much debris came down.

we spot an Ontario license plate in Alberta 

in the parking lot

The slide that originally covered highway 3 and now shows 

the debris on both sides of the highway

We immediately notice the different topography

One spot I was really looking forward to was Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump Historic Site.  The actual building is hard to see.  It completely blends into the mountain side.  This was done on purpose.

Indigenous people would corral the buffalo and then force the buffalo down the path to force the buffalo to herd themselves over the cliff.   

The plains people  would use all parts of the buffalo and the hides were used to make their homes and to keep them warm.  

look I found a beaver!

These buffalo are very tame, they let Bernie pet them

At the top of the 5 story interpretative center you can walk out to the look out and the actual cliff.  But there are these two marmots that seem to be very use to the people here.  You can see they are shedding their winter coats.

The actual cliff

Another marmot right outside the center's entrance.

We spot some deer - three in all - by the side of the road

Then we see a herd of goats - now these are not wild goats, but it counts towards our bingo card list.

The views are very stunning.

As we approach Lethbridge we see the large rail bridge.

We check into our hotel the Sandman Signature for two night.  And look in the parking lot is a car with Manitoba license plates!  Love the provincial quote - friendly Manitoba.

After getting settled into the room we decide to head out and getting dinner.  We have not eaten since breakfast.  We asked the front desk for a recommendation for an Indian Restaurant.  The restaurant is not too far and it is only a 20 minute walk, so we walk.

Check out this sign at a liquor store - yup I totally agree.

They have some nice street murals.  This is one I liked.

Here is the update Search List

• Moose
• Deer
• Hitchhiker
• Eagle/Hawk
• Licence plates from every Province in Canada - but you can not count the province you are in.  So if we see an Alberta plate in BC then it counts, but not if we are in Alberta.  British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Yukon, and North West Territory
• Skunk
• Sheep
• Beaver
• Goslings
• Buffalo
• Goat
• Owl
• Bear
• Loon
• Crane
• Prairie Dog
• Fisherman fishing
• Hummingbird
• Antique car on the road
• Old VW Bug
• Car broken down on the side of the road
• Helicopter on the ground
• Airplane on the ground
• Speeding ticket- hopefully not our own
• Ambulance with sirens on
• Dump truck
• Line painting crew at work
• Mail delivery person walking their route

So Today's Stats 
Driving distance today 311 km  
Total distance 1885 km

In the end it was a great day and we both agree we feel like we are making progress.  Moving into another province feels like we are really moving.  

Also we did not have a lot of driving to do today and we got to stop and see some sights and we learned a lot.